Land area

652,100 sq km (World Bank, World Development Indicators Database)

Population

25.5m in mid-2009 (Asian Development Bank, Key Indicators of Developing Asia and Pacific Countries)

Main towns

Kabul: 2,536,300 (Central Statistics Office, 2006)

Kandahar: 450,300 (Central Statistics Office, 2006)

Heart: 349,000 (Central Statistics Office, 2006)

Climate

Continental (wide extremes of temperature)

Weather in Kabul (altitude 1,815 metres)

Hottest month, July, 16-33°C (average daily minimum and maximum); coldest month, January, minus 8-2°C; driest month, September, 1 mm average monthly rainfall; wettest month, April, 102 mm average rainfall

Main languages

Pashtu and Dari (Persian)

Measures

Metric system. Local measures include:

1 gazi jerib = 0.7366 metres

1 jerib = 0.195 ha

1 charak = 1.7665 kg

1 seer = 9.066 kg

Currency

The afghani (Af). Average exchange rate in 2009: Af50.2:US$1

Time

4.5 hours ahead of GMT

Fiscal year

March 21st-March 20th

Public holidays 2011

February 15th (Liberation Day; also Roze-Maulud, Birth of the Prophet Mohammed); March 21st (Navruz, New Year's Day, Iranian calendar); April 18th (Liberation Day); April 28th (Victory Day); May 1st (Labour Day); August 19th (National Day); August 30th (Eid al-Fitr, end of Ramadan); November 6th (Eid al-Adha, Feast of Sacrifice); December 5th (Ashura)